


Ice can burn as well

by SakumiYukime



Series: Klangst Week 2018 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, AtLA AU, Enemies, Firebender Keith (Voltron), Keith just wants to save Shiro, Klangst Week 2018, Lance just wants to protect his family, M/M, Waterbender Lance (Voltron), conflicted feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakumiYukime/pseuds/SakumiYukime
Summary: The war has been going on ever since Lance was born. The fire nation responsible for all the misery brought upon his family.And now, as he lays on the floor, hurt and tired, he knows he will be the next one to go.





	Ice can burn as well

There’s a gap.

Clear and undeniable. It’s evident, making it impossible for him to win. He knows.

Lance takes a deep breath, eying the firebender from where he lays on the floor, tired and hurt, in no condition to keep fighting.

He looks the soldier in the eyes, gazing at his purple orbs, trying to discern if there is at least single emotion in there.

Lance knows there isn’t. Everyone in the fire nation is ruthless, they kill and destroy without thinking or caring for anything but themselves.

Somehow, that lights up a flame he believed to be down.

The waterbender hates them, always has and always will. Not just for destroying everything in their path, but for hurting his family. He can’t stand it anymore, be still and watch as they take them apart.

First, they killed his mother. After, his father and older brother left for the war.

And now they attacked again. Because his family, his tribe hadn’t suffered enough at the hands of those monsters.

He couldn’t just stand there and watch them. What would it be now? His sister? Maybe his brother?

So he fought.

Lance fought, throwing back at the firebender everything that he attacked him with, wishing to give him a taste of his own medicine. But in the end, Lance had fallen. He was too weak, untrained and unskilled. He never stood a chance against him, but he was tired of seeing what they did. He was tired of letting them do it.

Another pair of feet appears right next to the firebender Lance was fighting.

He looks up almost instantly, gazing at the fire nation soldier and the higher ranked member of the army that stood right in front of him. His blood runs cold in his veins and he knows perfectly well what awaits him.

“What is going on here?” The man barks, demanding answers. “Is he a bender?” Lance can almost feel the irritation on the other soldier. He masks it well though, removing his helmet respectfully before answering the first question.  

“Nothing important, Sir.” Lance finally sees his face.

The fire nation soldier doesn’t seem to be much older than him. He has porcelain skin, weirdly white even for fire nation and his hair is black like the night sky, long enough to reach the teen's shoulders. “The kid probably got frustrated and decided to attack me to avenge his tribe or whatever.” His voice was nonchalant, easily hiding the answer to the second question.

The other man laughed, enjoying the response a lot more than Lance did. “The vengeful type is the worst.” The man says without a worry, looking at the soldier next to him, “They grow up for nothing more than to seek their revenge.”

Lance wanted to bark back, hating how that man talked like he wasn’t even standing there. He wanted to curse him, tell he is not like them. Yet, before he can utter a word, the commander speaks, “Make sure to put an end to it.”

The black haired soldier nods before the man walks away from them. Lance sees him go, leaving without even worrying enough to look back.

Something turns in Lance’s stomach as he realizes how puny he is to them. He hates this feeling in his gut, how he is barely even treated as a human being - They don’t look him in the eyes, barely acknowledge his presence. He isn’t a threat to them, and they won’t let him grow up to be one. He knows.

Lance is completely aware he will be the next one to leave his family. The thought has him frozen, blue eyes open wide as he stares at the other teen in front of him.

He doesn’t want to die. He has to take care of his grandma and help his sister. He wants to go hunting with his brother. To stare at the night sky during a boreal aurora.  

He doesn’t want to die. He doesn’t want to leave his family or miss the day his father and brother come back from the war.

Lance has to fight. Bend away the fear that keeps him frozen. But, the more he wants to stand up, the more he becomes aware of the gap of power between them.

He doesn’t stand a chance. _He knows._ Fighting won't change anything. And in the end, the result will be the same - him, laying on the floor, painted with the fire nation's colors.

It was a mistake. He shouldn't have done this, he knows. But regretting it won’t change the fact that he did - regret won't save him. Not him, his family or his tribe.

Lance is scared, hands shaking as he tries to keep his breathing even. If he is going to die, he’d rather go down with a fight. He’d rather show the fire nation that the water tribes aren’t afraid of them. They have their own sense of honor, their responsibility, and they go down fighting.

“I’m sorry, mom…” He mumbles out, breath visible thanks to the cold.

Violet eyes are on him, locking with his own blue ones. The firebender doesn’t say a word, but he isn’t stupid. He understands.

What he sees is not a frustrated kid rushing to his death. He sees a brave warrior fighting for his own. Keith has to remind himself that this is why he is here. He is fighting for _his own_ too.

He needs this, even if he hates every second of it, Keith needs the money the army pays. For that, he will endure every blue eye that stares at him in pure hatred if he has to. If it’s for him - Shiro - Keith can do anything.

Shiro lost his arm and now is about to lose his life. They don’t have the money, they never had. Shiro’s honest job barely paid them the food to eat.

He couldn’t tell his brother about his plan to get some money, but he knew he had to do it. Keith had learned to firebend on his own, just like he had learned to fight, and everything else before Shiro took him in. So now, now that he needed Keith, he refused to give up on him, even if that meant betraying everything he had learned from Shiro.

He never agreed with the empire's way, and probably never will. But he needs the money because leaving Shiro to die isn’t an option. For a troublemaker like him, the army was about the only place where he could make enough money, fast enough.

Keith hates what he is forced to do, but he knows what will happen to him if he tries to stand up to oppose them. He doesn’t have a choice. _The weak never do_.

He knows he has to do this for him, because he can’t let Shiro die.

It’s a life for a life. He knows.

Yet, as he looks at those blue eyes, he sees how similar they are.

Fighting battles that were never their own - the battles they can’t win - for the people they care about.

Keith knows what he has to do.

He sees the tanned boy close his fists, the way he is ready to fight to his dying breath, even though he doesn’t stand a chance.

He knows.

They both do.

But the waterbender doesn’t seem to care about that, ready to stand back up and fight.

Keith assumes his fighting stance almost instantly, too aware of how the other boy freezes in front of him. He doesn't lose another second. They might not have that long, “You’re dead.” His voice is nonchalant, void of the hatred he feels towards himself.

He sees those gorgeous blue eyes widen, look at him, confused and lost. He sees the moment he tries to speak out, but Keith doesn’t let him, silencing him with his words, “The dead don’t speak...”

It’s the last thing he says. He turns around, hands clenched enough to make his nails bite his skin.

And walks away.


End file.
